Controlling mechanism for elevator-cars.



A. W. HUBERS.

CONTROLUNG MECHANISM FOR ELEVATOR CARS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 15. 19:1. RENEWED MAR. 1.1919.

1302,55? Patented May 6, 1919.

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CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR ELEVATOR CARS. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 15.1917. RENEWED MAR. 1.1919.

1,30%,55'7 Patented May 6, 1919.

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ALBERT W. HUBEBS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 HENRY F. HUBERS, OFNEW YGRK, N. Y.

CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR ELEVATOR-CABS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 6, 1919.

Application filed March 15, 1917, Serial No. 154,922. Renewed March 1,1919. Serial No. 280,187.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT W. HUBnRs, a citizen of the United States,residing in the borough of Manhattan of the city of New York, in theState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inControlling Mechanism for Elevator- Cars, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forminga part hereof.

- This invention relates to controlling mech anism for elevator carswhich operates on the principle described and claimed in U. S. PatentsNo. 918,051 dated April 13, 1909, and N 0. 1,155,065 dated September 28,1915, issued to the present applicant. In said patents the principle ofoperation is brought out fully and suitable mechanism for practising theinvention is disclosed. The present application seeks to cover specificimprovements to such mechanism whereby its action is rendered morecertain and invariable and its' construction and disposition withrelation to the elevator car and to the well are such as to make it ofgreater simplicity and more inexpensive in its initial cost and in thecost of applying it to elevator cars now in use. A further object of theinvention is to make the improved controlling mechanism entirelyindependent of the elevator shaft and the elevator car and permit it tobe applied to the car without changing the construction or character ofany of the parts thereof. Still another object, which is of primaryimportance, is: to provide suitable controlling mechanism of the typewith which the invention is concerned which may be mounted on the underaside of the elevator car and have its 00- operating detent mounted inthe elevator shaft wholly below the level of the landing. In this way,none of the parts are exposed to view and they are always safely guardedagainst injury. ,Further, such disposition permits alteration or removalof any of the usual parts of the car or the shaft door with outdisturbing the controlling mechanism. The invention will be more fullydescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings in which--Figure 1. is a fragmentary view of an elevator car and the well showingthe appli cation of the improved controlling mechanism thereto.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in elevation of the detent and itsoperating devices as seen along the line 22 of Fig. 1 and looking in thedirection of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail view of the controlling mechanism, partlyin plan and partly in horizontal section, taken along the planeindicated by the broken line 33 of Fig. 1 and looking in the directionof the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view similar generally to Fig. l but showing theapplication of the improved mechanism of somewhat modified form, butdisposed in substantially the same relationship to the car and to theelevator well.

Fig. 5 is a view similar generally to Fig. 2 but showing the modifiedcontrolling devices illustrated in Fig. a and looking along the line 5-5of Fig. a in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 6 is a detail view, similar generally to Fig. 3 and taken along theplane indicated by the line 66 of Fig. 4C.

The improved controlling mechanism when applied to an elevator car isintended to prevent the car from being moved from the landing until theelevator door is wholly closed and is also intended to prevent creepingof the car while it is opposite the shaft door. This creeping isparticularly objectionable in hydraulic elevators because of the leakagein the valves etc. The principleof the invention, as disclosed in priorPatent No. 918,051 above referred to, consists in providing a slidingelement such as a rack bar on the elevator car which rack bar isconnected with the controller and a relatively fixed cooperating detenton the wall of the shaft, these parts being engaged when the car isopposite the landing and the door is opened, so that movement of thecontroller by the operator is prevented and creeping of the car ineither direction causes automatically the throwing of the controller toa position which will counter-act such creeping movement. The presentinvention seeks merely to cover improved mechanism for effecting theintended control of the movements of the car in the manner described.This mechanism in the improved constructions is mounted wholly below thecar floor and so is not only hidden from view, but is protected againstinjury and may be much simpler and more inexpensive than devicesheretofore proposed.

Referring to the drawings, the car a has its movements controlled in theusual manner by means of the controller handle 6 disposed withinconvenient reach of the operator. To the controller handle I) isoperatively connected a sliding rack bar 0 which is mounted in dependingchannels a bolted on the underside of the car fioor a adjacent the frontedge thereof. The sliding rack bar 0 is connected to the controllerhandle Z) in Fig. 1 by means of a link 0 which is pivotally connected tothe rack bar and to a swinging lever fulcrumed at 0 to a fixed bracket acarried 011 the underside of the car floor. The swinging lever arm 0 isconnected by a link I) with a bell crank lever c pivotally mounted onthe side wall of the car and connected pivotally with alink 0 which is,in turn pivotally connected to the controller handle Z). By theconstruction described, it is evident that swinging movement of thecontroller handle I) or vertical movement of the rack bar 0 in itsguideways a will be communicated in a corresponding degree to the othermember.

The detent (Z is formed as a sortof a tooth. carried on a rock shaft (Zwhich is journaled in bearings e secured to the wall of the elevatorshaft and this rock shaft is adapted to be oscillated in such a manneras to swing the detent 03 into and out of engagement with the teeth onthe rack bar 0 in amanner which will appear. On the end of the rockshaft (Z is secured an arm (Z the end of which is connected pivotally bylinks 03 d with a swinging arm cl pivoted fixedly on the face of theshaft at (F. From this clescription, it is evident that swingingmovement of the arm d will cause rocking of the shaft d so as to throwthe tooth cl into and out of the path of the rack bar 0. Thisswinging'of the arm (Z is brought about automatically by the opening andclosing movements of the shaft door 6. Depending from the fac of thisdoor is a fixed bracket arm f, the lower end of which may be formed as acurved finger f presenting a cam-like surface arranged to be moved intoand out of operative engagement with a roller (Z carried on the upperend of the swinging arm 65". When the shaft door is closed, as indicatedby the dotted lines in Fig. 2, the fixed arm f moves the swinging arm clto such position as to retract the detent d from its engagement with therack bar 0. When the door is slid open by the operator the cam formed onthe lower end of the fixed arm f will engage the roller d on theswinging arm (Z and carry this arm to a position where the detent clwill be thrown into engagement with the rack bar 0, the arm f finallypassing out of engagement with the roller.

In operation with the shaft door 6 fully closed, it is evident that thedetent 61 will be retracted from the well and held out of the path ofthe rack bar 0 by reason of the engagement of the arm f with theswinging arm d. When the operator brings the car to rest opposite thelanding stage or approximately opposite it, the rack bar 0 will bedisposed about opposite the detent cZ so that when the door is slid openthe movement of the detent cl by the engagement of the arm f with theroller d will cause the detent to move into engagement with the teeth onthe rack bar. With the parts in this position it is evident that theoperator cannot swing the controlling lever to start the car so long asthe door is open since the detent d by its locking engagement with thesliding bar 0 serves to lock the controller .7). Further, creeping ofthe car along the well will cause a sliding movement of the rack bar 0along its guide-ways a and such relative movement of the rack bar withrelation to the car will be communicated to the controller handle Z) soas to throw this handle to such position as to counter-act the creeping.In other words, when the car tends to creep upward the controller handlewill be thrown to open the valve to initiate downward movement of thecar and vice versa, the re sult being that the car is always maintainedautomatically in a balanced position.

In the modified construction shown in Figs. 4-6 the connection betweenthe controller handle 6 and the sliding rack bar 0 is made whollybeneath the car floor a In this construction the supporting rock shaft 6for the controller handl 6 has fixed thereto a crank arm 6 which ispivotally connected through a link 6 with the swinging arm 0 which is,as before described, connected to the sliding bar 0 through a pivotedlink 0'.

In this construction the detent is also modified somewhat. In place ofthe swinging detent (Z, there is mounted on the wall of the well aswinging detent arm 9 on which is carried a detent tooth g forengagement with the teeth on the rack bar 0. The swinging arm is pivotedat its lower end in supporting channels it fastened to the face of thewell and is connected at its upper end by means of links 9 with thereciprocable block 2' slidably supported in the guide channels h. Thisblock '5 is connected through a slot and stud connection to one arm of abell crank lever Z which is pivotally supported on the face of the shaftand has on its other arm a roller Z adapted to be engaged by the forkedarm 7 described in connection with the embodiment shown in Figs.

1-3. The operation of the devices shown in the modified construction isthe same as that heretofore pointed out. The detent tooth g on theswinging arm 9 is moved into and out of operative engagement with theteeth on the rack bar 0 through the engagement of the arm 7" with thebell crank lever Z, this lever serving to reciprocate the block 2' inthe channels it and so swing the arm 9 with a toggle like action. Thepositive connection between the controller 6 and the sliding rack bar 0insures the same locking engagement heretofore described. The controller5 cannot be thrown unless the door 6 is fully closed and creeping of thecar is automatically counter-acted by movement of the controller I) inthe proper direction by its improved connection with the rack bar.

In the advance sought to be covered by this application, the structureis simple and inexpensive and may be applied readily to elevator carsand shafts without alteration thereof in any respect. The apparatus isalso accessible for adjustment and repair, and being disposed Whollybeneath the car floor has not only the advantage of being entirelyconcealed from view, but further permits alterations or changes in anyof the usual parts of the car or landing wlthout disturbance of thecontrolling mechanism.

1 claim as my invention:

1. The combination with the controller of an elevator car, of a slidablerack element, vertical guide channels for the rack secured to theunderside of the fioor along the front edge thereof, operativeconnections between the rack and the controller carried on the undersideof the car floor, a detent below the landing stage engageable with saidrack element and a rigid arm depending from the door and formed with acam to cooperate with the detent for throwing the same into and out ofengagement with the rack upon the opening and closing of the door.

2. The combination with the controller of an elevator car, of a slidablerack element mounted below the car floor, operative connections betweenthe rack and the controller comprising a link pivoted to the rack, aswinging lever arm pivoted on the underside of the car floor, a secondlink pivoted to said lever and an arm to which said last named link ispivotally connected, said arm being connected operatively to thecontroller handle and a detent below the landing stage engageable withsaid rack element.

3. The combination with the controller of an elevator car, of a slidablerack element mounted below the car floor, operative connections betweenthe rack and the controller carried on the underside of the car floor, adetent engageable with said rack element comprising a rock shaftjournaled in the elevator shaft, a swinging tooth fixed to the rockshaft, an arm on the rock shaft, a swinging lever pivoted in the shaft,a link connection between said arm and the lever, a roller on the end ofthe lever and a depending arm fixed on the shaft door and mounted inoperative relation to said roller, whereby the toothed detent is throwninto and out of engagement with the rack on the opening and closing ofthe door.

This specification signed this 12th day of March, A. D. 1917.

ALBERT W. HUBERS.

Gopiea of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe "Gommlecioncr of Patentc,

Washington, D. G.

